Music builds. We know that music builds connection and emotion. But does it ever seem obvious that music builds with wood, steel, and concrete to create structures for its existence. The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington is a museum, built by music to immerse us mortal humans in its immortal energy.

The building’s exterior design is without straight walls or right angles, a blob-like structure that resembles music’s ability to continuously change its own rules. The 1st floor exhibit, “Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound” is an illustration of Hendrix’s musical evolution from a Seattle-born journeyman musician to his explosion onto the London music scene.

Wandering throughout the room I saw up close the Fender Stratocaster he used to redefine the National Anthem at Woodstock. In the next window are the shards of his ’68 Monterey Pop Festival guitar that he set on fire and then smashed. Imagine the sound created from that!

As a musician myself, it’s an incredible feeling to see music as a force that built this room, this building, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience itself. Feeling that energy I visited the top floor of the EMP to have 10 minutes of uninterrupted fun time on a drum set. Afterwards I felt that music had built within me a tiny moment of joy that will last forever.